Nightmares
by ImagineDragon Bastille
Summary: "Nightmares?" asked Clint. Natasha nodded her head in confirmation. " Hamburg." Natasha confessed. Natasha is having nightmares about her past and Clint comforts her. Meanwhile, Tony is trying to find out Natasha's mysterious past. Implied Clintasha and Pepperony. Contains mild swearing.
1. Chapter 1

**_Natasha's POV_**

_She was in a glass box. It was pitch black in the room she had been kept for two days. _

_No one had come in; the only sound was her ragged breathing and the ticking of a clock. All of a sudden, just like every time she had this nightmare, water started filling the box. Slowly, she sank into a sitting position, hugging her knees. Water, everywhere. It rose above her ankles, then her knees, she stood up, desperately trying to break the glass. Natasha pounded on the glass and screamed until her scream became a rasp. Natasha gasped for air as the water covered her waist, then her chest, then her neck._

Natasha sat up, her eyes wide, gasping for air. She untangled herself from her sweat soaked sheets and glanced at her clock. 3:30; half an hour longer than the previous night. Natasha got out of bed, knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep any more. Throwing on some clothes, Natasha headed for the gym. The avengers tower had everything, a workout gym, shooting range, an avengers lounge; practically any room named would be in the 100-floor tower.

Natasha stayed at the gym until 7:30. She headed back to her room and took a shower. None of the avengers knew about this morning routine occurring almost every day. Natasha made sure of that, she took a shower every morning and made it look as if she had just waken up. Red room training kept Natasha from showing no physical appearance that in the last three days she had gotten 8 hours of sleep. Natasha was always the first one up, not counting Tony who, much to everyone's chagrin occasionally went days without sleeping. Steve or Clint would usually be the second person up. Today it was Steve. Steve and Natasha had a sort of brother sister relationship.

"Early morning?" asked Steve.

" Yeah, I was just at the gym," replied Natasha, pouring herself some coffee.

"That's where I'm headed out now." Steve said as he walked towards the gym. Natasha sipped her coffee relishing the tranquil silence. Just then, a certain billionaire walked out of the elevator.

"Stark," Natasha greeted." You're up early."

" What did you do before you worked for S.H.I.E.L.D?" Tony blurted.

" What?" said Natasha suddenly icy.

" Well I know the Bruce, Steve, Clint, and Thor's history, you're the only one I don't know anything about. I checked your S.H.I.E.L.D. file but-" Tony was cut short.

" Stark, I swear to god if you finish that sentence I will embed this knife in your skull." Natasha growled, a knife appearing in her hand. Tony shut up. Of all the residence occupying his tower, Natasha scared him the most. Sighing, Natasha started back to her room, but ran into none other than Clint.

"Hey Tash," yawned Clint. "What'd Tony do to you this time?"

"Leave me alone," snapped Natasha as she pushed her way through Clint and toward her room. Upon arriving in her room Natasha slammed the door behind her letting it automatically lock behind her. Natasha sat on her bed, engulfed in the memories that plagued her dreams. A few minutes later, the doorknob rattled, like someone was trying to turn it. After a few rattles, it grew silent again. Lying on her back, Natasha closed her eyes and was immediately assaulted by the images of her victims. She remembered each one of them. All of a sudden, her air vent cover rattled, and fell off.

"Godd*mn it Clint, what the h*ll are you doing up there, again?" Natasha called. The air vent cover came off silently and out dropped Clint.

"Natasha," Clint asked," Have you been sleeping?" Natasha shrugged in response.

" How many hours of sleep did you get last night?"

"2 and a half," whispered Natasha.

"Nightmares?" asked Clint. Natasha nodded her head in confirmation.

"Hamburg." Natasha confessed, her eyes looking haunted. Clint put a comforting arm around Natasha, pulling her into a hug. Clint's presence always seemed to calm Natasha down, her nightmares weren't as bad when Clint was around. Their presence each other was mutual; their nightmares weren't as bad when they were together. After years in the red room, Natasha didn't trust anyone for years. It took Clint almost two years to gain her trust. of all the people at S.H.I.E.L.D, Natasha only trusted Clint, Coulson, and Fury. Natasha had worked at S.H.I.E.L.D. for 7 years.

" Every time I try to sleep, I can't stop thinking of Hamburg," Natasha said.

Later that night was dinner, Pepper had gotten a reservation at an incredibly fancy restaurant, so naturally,everyone had to attend. Everyone meaning Tony, Steve, Bruce, Thor, Natasha, Clint, Pepper, and Jane. Natasha dreaded dinner; she would have to face Tony, who she had been avoiding all day.

"Why hello Natasha," Tony greeted as soon as Natasha and Clint arrived." I haven't seen you all day," Dinner was miserable for Natasha; Tony constantly pestering her with questions. With each question Tony asked, Natasha thought of all the people she had ruthlessly killed.

When dinner was finally over, Natasha changed out of her fancy dress and into her pajamas. She had promised Clint that she would at least try to sleep that night. Natasha slipped into her bed and closed her eyes.

**I got the idea of the glass box with water from Divergent, do you like it? Reviews are appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I could not decide how to write this chapter. Hope you like it!**

When Natasha woke up the next day, something was wrong. She rolled over and found herself in the arms of Clint. She definitely wasn't drunk last night; she had a very high tolerance for alcohol. So why was she in bed with Clint?

"Clint, what the h*ll am I doing in your bed?" Natasha asked, to a sleeping Clint. She got no response.

"Clint! Get your lazy *ss awake!" Natasha yelled, throwing a pillow at him.

"Tash, its too early," mumbled Clint. But when he kept on getting pillows hurled at him, he finally sat up and explained what had happened.

" Last night around 1:30 you crawled through the vents to my room. I think you were still dreaming because you kept on insisting that I had left you. Anyways, you just got into bed with me and fell back asleep. Any nightmares?" Clint asked.

"No," Natasha admitted. They had shared beds dozens of times on missions, so that portion of the story didn't really bother her.

"Clint?" Natasha asked as she started toward the vent.

"Yeah?"

"That was the best I have ever slept in weeks." Natasha thanked, and with that, she was gone. Half an hour later, Natasha walked out of her room, all showered. Today she had slept in- it was 8:00. Steve was already back from a morning jog and was pouring himself some cereal.

"Did you sleep in?" asked Steve.

" Yeah," Natasha replied. Natasha lingered in the dining room a little longer, waiting for Clint. As 40 minutes went by, it became evident that Clint had fallen back asleep. Instead of getting Clint, Natasha got Tony. Apparently he had been waiting for her all morning.

" Stark, what the h*ll do you want?" Natasha demanded upon Tony climbing out of a cabinet.

" You know what I want dear Natasha, where did you work before joining we S.H.E.I.L.D?" Said Tony. Despite the fact that Natasha scared the sh*t out of him, he would not admit defeat.

" Stark, get the h*ll out of here." Natasha threatened.

" Why is my question so hard to answer? Here, I'll go first I was a billionaire, genius, playboy, and philanthropist before I became iron man." Tony pressed.

" You want to know something Stark? I was capable of killing a man 10 different ways before I reached the age 7." That shut Tony up.

Natasha decided to pass time by going to the gym and beat some punching bags. Which is how Clint found her an hour later.

"Hey, Tash?" Called Clint.

" What?"

" let's spar."

"Barton, you know I beat your *ss every single time," teased Natasha.

They both got on the sparring mat. Natasha got into a flawless defensive stance. Clint mirrored her. They circled each other, searching for weak spots. With no warning, Natasha aimed a punch at Clint. The punch never reached its mark, not that she expected it to. Using her momentum behind the punch, Clint grabbed her arm and use it to supposedly fling her behind him. Unfortunately Natasha and Clint had known each other for seven years, she had expected him do react like this. When Clint pulled her to throw her, Natasha flipped into the air. Before she landed, Natasha kicked him in the chest . While Clint still incapacitated (a total of 3.4 seconds) Natasha had put him in a hold. To get out, Clint pulled Natasha's arm behind her back, at that awkward angle that could dislocate her shoulder, forcing her to let go. by the time Natasha let go, Clint had gotten her in a hold. Natasha struggled against Clint's toned bulk.

" d*mn it Clint! How much cement did you eat this morning?" Gasped Natasha. As soon as Clint went to answer, Natasha kneed him in the stomach and he let go. A silent agreement passed through them and the sparring session was over.

" I think I won that one," Clint declared.

" You did I not, I had my hold on you longer and I could've killed you 7 different ways."

" Liar! My hold was longer!" Argued Clint.

" Oh, and how many ways could you have killed me during that hold?" Natasha smirked.

"4"

" I win," Natasha said as she walked out of the gym.

"d*mn it! Not again," grumbled Clint, to the empty gym,

Every Wednesday night was movie night. Everyone had their designated spots. Tony and Pepper would lay on one side of the couch, while Bruce occupied the other. Steve stretched out on the carpet. A pile of comfy mattresses served as Natasha's spot. Clint's was a the carpet with Steve at the bottom of the couch. When Thor was around, he got the second couch with Jane.

"We should watch Star Wars," Declared Tony.

" No that's stupid, we just watched that," objected Clint. And thus began another half hour of bickering that probably would have lasted all night had not Pepper and and Natasha taken charge. Throughout the last six months, Pepper and Natasha had developed a relationship, resulting in a girls' night out each Friday, providing Pepper was not working and Natasha was not on a mission. After watching 7 episodes of How I Met Your Mother, they went to bed.

Natasha sighed as she slipped into her covers, dreading the inevitable nightmares.

_She was back in the red room, laying on a sterile table that resembled a hospital table. Thick leather straps held her in place. Then a man, known as Dr. Volkov in the red room, walked into her room and injected her with some drug._

_"Who do you serve?" Asked Volkov, as soon as the drug took hold of her._

_" Mother Russia," answered Natalia in a monotone._

_"Good. Your mission is to seduce and kill David Belikov, he has been disloyal to mother Russia" instructed Volkov._

_" Your name is Katerina Pokrovsky you are 20 years old" came Volkov's voice." You will attend the gala that he is going to."_

_" Yes sir," _

_Natasha's dream shifted. She was still in that sterile white room, but now she had eliminated her target. Volkov walked in and inserted the needle in her arm that would drug her again._

_"You have served mother Russia well Natalia." Volkov praised. "You are Natalia now, you are 17 years old. Who do you serve?"_

_" I serve mother Russia." Natalia's monotone of a voice answered._

Natash sat up, relief filling her when she realized that she was no longer in the clutches of the red room. Subconsciously, Natasha got out of bed and climbed into her air vent. Natasha crawled in the direction of Clint's room. When she reached her destination, though still in a dream state, Natasha dropped onto the carpet, making no noise. Noise in the red room got you killed. Clint barely woke up as Natasha leaned against his body, nightmares now at bay.

**reviews and ideas are appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3

In the morning, Natasha was not as bewildered as to why she was in Clint's bed as she was the previous morning. She rolled over, out of the bed and went back to her room, via the air vents. This morning routine happened nearly every morning for the next two weeks. On Tuesday of the third week, Clint forgot that that morning he had told the guys that he would join them at breakfast, to discuss a " matter of importance" at 9:30. It happened to be 10:00, so Tony told J.A.R.V.I.S. to "get his lazy *ss awake and out of bed". After ten minutes, they sent Steve to go wake him up.

" Clint, get up!" Steve knocked on his door. Getting no response, Steve opened the door. Inside was a sleeping Clint, and in his arms was a sleeping Natasha. He was lying on his back and her head was on his shoulder. One of his arms was underneath her head, and the other was gripping her waist. Her arm was sprawled on his chest. Both assassins had such a tough exterior, but it seemed that deep down, despite the h*ll they had been through, they still had a soft side. Steve quickly backed out of the room, deciding not to mention this to the rest of the team. They would tell them if they wanted to. Knocking much louder this time Steve told him to get up. Clint finally woke up and if Steve hadn't walked into the room he wouldn't have heard it, but there was a frantic shuffling and Clint opened the door.

" What?" Clint said, blearily.

" We're going to breakfast, remember?" Steve reminded.

" Oh sh*t! What time is it?" Clint asked.

"It's ten, we'll wait for you down stairs."

" Kay," mumbled Clint. Ten minutes later, Clint had showered, dressed and done his hair. Eight of those ten minutes were spent styling hair.

" Guys, I have a dilemma, I want to propose to Pepper, but I don't know how, Tony said, as soon as they had sat down.

"Well, what is Pepper's favorite place?" asked Thor.

"She loves the beach, but she also loves the place downtown, the Gotham Bar and Grill." Tony said," Those are two completely different places."

" You could take her to the Gotham Bar and Grill, and then to the beach and –"

"At sunset." Clint interrupted Bruce's idea.

" After dinner, take her to the beach, at sunset, and propose. Finished Bruce.

" Great, but when and what kind of ring?"

" How about…. July 6th ? " Suggested Steve, " That has a nice ring to it…. July 6th…"

"July 6th?! That's barely over a month from now! It's June 1! I cant wait that long!" exclaimed Tony. "Sooner"

" Okay then… how about June 6?" suggested Thor.

" Or June 11?" said Bruce

"Or June 21?" said Clint.

" I like …June 11. I'm going to propose to the most amazing woman on June 11!" Declared Tony. Although none of them wanted to tell him this, Steve, Thor, Bruce, and Clint all thought of someone else when the phrase "most amazing woman" was vocalized. "Now for the ring," Tony moved on.

" I think I speak for all of us, but we don't know a thing about what kind of rings women like." Said Clint, looking at a rage monster, a guy who was frozen in ice for 70 years, and a Norse god. " You could ask Natasha or Jane to help you." Said Clint.

"Jane is going to Ohio to see her mother, who is ill. So you would have to ask Natasha." Said Thor, just as Tony had made up his mind to ask Jane, as Natasha scared the sh*t out of him.

" Oh," said Tony, paling at the prospect of asking Natasha to help him, after he had harassed her so much.

* * *

" Uh.. Natasha?" asked a nervous Tony. He had decided that he would ask her in an environment where A, Pepper was not there, and B, he could run away if she got really mad.  
"What Stark?" Natasha said. It was obvious she was still pissed at him for all the questions.

"Could I talk to you for a minute?" Tony ventured.

"One minute." Natasha followed tony out of the living room. Clint had told her that Tony wanted to talk to her and that she should listen to him. Natasha didn't want to, but she trusted Clint.

" Ok, ummm I'mgoingtoproposetoPepper,andIneedyoutohelpmepickouttheengagementring. Please?" Tony asked. He knew it was a long shot .

" Of course I will. when are we going?" asked Natasha. Tony could not believe she actually agreed to go with him, even after he had annoyed the crap out of her.

" I was thinking we could go now. Pepper's still at Stark Industries. She gets off work at 5, so we have 3 hours. 2 hours later and 3 incidents in which people thought Tony was engaged to Natasha, tony and Natasha arrived back at the tower.

"Where do I hide it?" Tony wailed to Natasha.

" Where is the one place Pepper never goes?" asked Natasha.

" Well, she seems to avoid the workshop at all costs." said Tony.

" Good, then hide it in the workshop." said Natasha. When Pepper got home later that day, she found Tony, not only sober, but in an incredibly good mood.

**Okay, i have reached a dilemma, should Clint and Natasha start dating? reviews are appreciated!**


	4. Chapter 4

**It took me a while to come up with this. hope you like it!**

When Tony announced to the guys that he was going to propose to Pepper, that made Clint think about his own love life. When Tony said the phrase " most amazing woman ever", he thought of none other than Natasha Romanoff, his partner and best friend. It made Clint think that he might want to take their relationship one step farther. They knew each other inside and out, in some cases quit literally. But how? She was Natasha d*mn Romanoff, Queen of icy glares and stoicness. He decided to do it at twilight, her favorite time of night, very romantic. Clint was getting dressed watching a certain red head, whom he had just been thinking about, sleep. When Clint got out of the shower, Natasha was still in his bed, peacefully sleeping. Clint ate a quick breakfast, and then headed to the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Coulson had said that he needed to talk to him.

* * *

When Natasha got up, pointedly not making his bed, a running joke between her and Clint, she hauled herself into the air vents. Luckily, Tony had stopped harassing her with his intrusive questions after she had helped him with the ring. She took a shower and was now drinking coffee and eating a bagel. Somehow, her thoughts wandered to her past. She put her plate in the sink; JARVIS would clean it and headed back to her room, lost in thought. Somehow, her thoughts wandered to her past.

_She had just gotten back from a mission and she had messed up. There was a witness in her mission and Ivan was seething. Of course, that witness had been in an "unfortunate accident" before he could alert the authorities, but Ivan was still mad that his perfect creation had messed up and had left witnesses. When she arrived at the red room HQ, she was immediately thrown into a dark, empty cell. All it contained was a bed that had a springy mattress. Sitting on the bed, Natalia waited for the inevitable punishment. In reality, the waiting only lasted about 10 seconds, but in the cell, it seemed like eternity. Finally, a red room guard came in and dragged Natalia away from her cell. They arrived in a room. In it was a bed, with leather straps, like they were there to restrain someone, and a few knives, and a variety of other torture devices. Upon seeing the room, Natalia started kicking and screaming, trying to relinquish the guard's hold on her. But this was a red room guard, he held onto her until she was too exhausted from struggling. He laid her on the table and pulled the leather straps over her, affectively immobilizing her bottom half. Knowing what was in store for her, she thrashed against the straps, but could not do any affective damage to them. First, her right wrist was strapped down. Then her arm. Then her left wrist. Then her stomach and chest. The feeling of complete and utter helplessness washed over her, she could not move her entire body. When the guard was done, he left her in the room, completely immobile, waiting for the Ivan's inevitable wrath. He walked in._

"_Natalia, you had a witness," Natalia said nothing. Her makeshift bed tilted downwards, so her head was lower than her feet. Waterboarding, one of the worst. But, after years of the red room punishments, Natalia had grown almost immune to it. A cloth was put over her face, despite her immunity to waterboarding, she still hated it. Water was poured over her mouth. Involuntarily, Natalia choked, trying to repel the water. Then came the knives. Ivan delicately traced a design on her wrist…._

"Natasha?" asked Tony. Natasha was standing in the hallway coughing and fingering a scar on her wrist. Some of the events of her nightmare carried into reality. "Natasha! Snap out of it!" Tony realized that Natasha was in somewhat of a dream state. Finally, she seemed to snap out of it and focused on Tony.

"What?" asked Natasha.

"You were just standing in the hallway staring into space, what were you doing?"

" Just thinking about some…. Stuff," Natasha quickly answered. But Tony had already figured out what she was thinking about.

"What is it Nat? Maybe I can help." Tony said in an un-Tony like voice; concern. She had never let him call her Nat. Natasha heard the unspoken question Tony had asked. But this wasn't the Tony who had kept on pestering her about her past. This time, the only reason he wanted to know was so that he could help her.

" I was thinking about the red room," Natasha began." It was one of my first missions, and I screwed up, there was a witness. Every time we messed up, we were punished, sometimes we were just punished for no apparent reason."

" Who were the we?" asked Tony, curious again, despite the worry he still had for Natasha.

" The other red room recruits. Anyways, because of that, I have a very high pain tolerance."

" What happened to the other recruits?" asked Tony.

" I killed them," Natasha whispered," There could only be one Black Widow, and I was the best of that batch. We all knew that there was some sort of test at the end to become the black widow, but we didn't know what. They took me into a room, gave me a gun, and told me that I had to shoot them, or they would kill me. The brought them in one by one, so they thought that I had picked them to die. The last girl, Katarina, she was my best friend. They were all like sisters to me; we had been together for 11 years, since we were 5, and I killed all of them." Natasha walked out of the room, holding back five years' worth of remorse.

* * *

Clint Barton walked through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s HQ, ignoring all the whispers arising when he walked past. People still didn't trust him after what Loki had done to him, despite what he had done in New York, against those extraterrestrial god*mned aliens.

" We need you on a recon mission," Coulson said as he arrived in his office." There is evidence that a weapons dealer is building a nuclear bomb that could devastate earth. It could take at most a month, it could take a week. Here is your cover, you leave tomorrow at 8:00 am."

Clint looked his file over in his room at the avengers tower. It was just the usual stuff. Weirdly though, it was a solo mission. Ever since he had spared her life in Paris, Clint and Natasha, Hawkeye and Black Widow, Strike team Delta, were usually partners for these kind of missions. Clint came to the most likely conclusion 11.5 seconds faster than the average human being. The council had picked him for this mission, not strike team delta, because they needed to make sure that he had properly recovered from Loki. He could not afford to screw up.

" Hey Tash," Clint greeted, when Natasha walked into his room.

" Where've you been?" asked Natasha.

" At the headquarters, I got a mission." said Clint, for some reason he didn't want to tell her that the mission was solo. Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"Solo?" asked Natasha. She had come to the same conclusion as Clint, 3.5 seconds faster than him, 15 seconds before the average human being.

"Yep," said Clint, popping the p. Without even asking, Natasha got into Clint's bed. Only when Clint went to bed did she actually fall asleep.

**hope you liked it! as always, reviews are appreciated.**


	5. Chapter 5

Nightmares chapter 5

Clint was gone on his mission a total of one 12 days, 14 hours, and 23 minutes. Those 12 days, 14 hours, and 23 minutes were a living h*ll for Natasha. During the day, she would appear fine, talkative (or as talkative as the Black Widow ever got) and seemingly not affected by Clint's absence. But during the night, she would wake up from some nightmare. With no Clint to comfort her, Natasha would just get up and go work out at the gym. At 4:00 Natasha rolled out of bed, extremely sleep deprived, but unable to sleep, and went to the gym. When she was done, she went back to her room to take a shower. This occurred every morning of Clint's absence. The 12th morning was no different. Although Natasha didn't know it, Clint was coming home that very day.

" Would you like to go on a jog with me?" Steve asked Natasha. They were both in the kitchen either preparing their breakfast (Steve), or finishing it (Natasha).

"No thanks, I was at the gym this morning and I just took a shower." Declined Natasha. After Natasha left, Steve was finished his light breakfast, but before he could leave, a hysterical Tony ran into the kitchen.

" There you are!" gasped Tony." I've been looking everywhere for you!"

" What?" asked Steve, a little taken a back.

" I am having a freak out,"

"Ummmm, why are you freaking out?" asked a completely lost Steve.

" It's June 11!" wailed Tony." I'm proposing today! My mind keeps going through these different scenarios, I mean, what of she says no!"

* * *

Tony and Pepper are walking by the beach. The waves are crashing on the sand. When Tony looks at Pepper, her face is illuminated by that sunsetty glow; she is gorgeous.

"Pepper Potts, you are the most amazing woman I have ever met, and I didn't appreciate that until lately, will you marry me?" proposed Tony.

"Wait, you want me to marry …you?" laughed Pepper.

" Well, yes,"

" I'm sorry Tony, but I'm seeing Aldrich Killian right now, and he already got me a better ring, so, no, I won't marry you."

* * *

" You never know! What if that happens!" howled Tony.

" Why Aldrich Killian? look at him! Have you seen that guy's face?" comforted Steve.

* * *

Tony and Pepper are walking by the beach the waves are crashing on the sand. When Tony looks at Pepper, her face is illuminated by that sunsetty glow; she is gorgeous. Tony is looking at her when all of a sudden, a great white shark leaps out of the water, and swallows Pepper in one gulp.

* * *

" I'm starting to think that we shouldn't go to the beach, there might be a super shark there, waiting to eat my Pepper. Maybe we should stay in the city! I wouldn't be able to live with myself" cried Tony, wailing at the very thought of Pepper not being with him.

* * *

Tony and Pepper are walking in the romantic city if New York. When Tony looks at Pepper, her face is illuminated be the glow of the dim street lamps. Despite the lighting, she is gorgeous.

" Pepper Potts, you are the most amazing woman I have ever met, and I didn't appreciate you until lately, will you mar-" Tony was cut short by the appearance of big foot. Big foot grabbed Pepper by her waist and ran off with her.

"You never know!" Said a hysterical Tony?

" For one, big foot is in Washington and Canada, not New York. If anything, you should be worried about king kong. Listen Tony, underneath all of your jack*sssness, you are a loving, caring, and amazing boyfriend. Your going to make an amazing fiancé, maybe even a dad." Steve assured.

" Wait a minute there Captain, I have no intention of becoming a dad. Ever." Corrected Tony.

" Just don't forget what I said," said Steve, walking back towards his room," you are still an annoying jack*ss."

At 12:30, Clint walked back in the tower, for the first time in 12 days, 14 hours, and 23 minutes. After an exhausting mission, and a nearly as exhausting debrief at S.H.I.E.L.D, Clint was ready to be home. Before he showered, however, he had to see Natasha. He found her in her room, watching T.V.

" Hey, I'm back," greeted Clint, making sure she saw him, as to not surprise her. A surprised Natasha was a dangerous Natasha. The last time had accidentally surprised her, he had ended up on the ground with a knife embedded a mere 3 centimeters from his head.

" You're back," said Natasha. She had no expression, just the good old poker face. Natasha studied Clint for a minute, examining every detail of him." Clint, you didn't go to medical afterwards, did you?" asked Natasha, but more as a statement, she already knew.

" No, " admitted Clint, " you know how I feel about hospitals." Wordlessly, both of them went into her bathroom. Natasha got out the medical kit. He took off his shirt and let her examine his various cuts and bruises. Watching her work, Clint couldn't help but notice how cute she looked, her eyebrows forming a faint scowl from concentrating on doing his stitches. When she was done they both crashed on her bed, both sleep deprived, and fell asleep. By the time 5:30 had rolled around, they were still asleep.

"Natasha?" asked Pepper, knocking on her door. Earlier that day Natasha had said she would help Pepper what to wear on her date with Tony. " You in there?" Pepper slowly opened the door. Inside was Natasha, and surprisingly, Clint. She did not get home in time for the 20-minute period in which Clint was not with Natasha's room. They were spooning on her bed. One of his arms was draped over her shoulders and was holding her hand. The forgotten TV was still on, a reporter was babbling on about some newfound insect specimen. Pepper quickly closed the door and decided to give them five more minutes until she would instruct JARVIS to wake Natasha up. When Pepper came inside, Natasha woke up.

"Clint, get up," Natasha shook Clint. After a minute of shaking, Clint finally got out of bed. Pepper knocked again.

" Hey Natasha?" called Pepper." Can I come in?"

"Yes," Natasha 's muffled voice carried through her door. When Pepper opened the door, Natasha was sitting on her bed and Clint was coming out of the bathroom.

" Oh, hello Clint, nice to see that you got home safely." Pepper greeted, deciding to not question his presence in Natasha'a bathroom." So, Natasha, I can't decide which dress to wear, the blue one, or the black one." Clint, due to the boredom he typically got when listening to dress talk, left Natasha and Pepper to discuss the very important matter of dresses.

" You're going to dinner with Tony, right?" Natasha asked, though she already knew that yes, Pepper and Tony were going to dinner.

" Yes, but he's been acting all fidgety lately, though," sighed Pepper.

" You should wear the blue one. I think the black one looks to formal, like your going to a funeral, or something," advised Natasha.

" Yeah, I'll wear the blue one, I was already leaning towards that one anyways." Decided Pepper. By the time Pepper had dawned her dress, applied her makeup, and carefully styled her hair into a neat, but somehow prettily, messy bun, it was 6:00. She had told Tony that she would meet him in the lobby of the tower at 6:00.

" Hey Tash? Could you come out here for a minute?" asked Clint. They were in Clint's room about to watch Pirates of the Caribbean. His room was on the 90th floor and had an amazing view of New York. He was on the balcony, looking at the beautiful, sparkling city. Though it was night time, not twilight, the setting was romantic.

" What? I was just getting comfy on the bed," Natasha heaved herself out of the bed grumbling.

" Natasha, you are the most amazing person I have ever met, will you go out with me?" asked Clint. Natasha blinked.

" Like…umm…. Be your girlfriend?" asked Natasha.

" Well, yes, we've known each other for 7 years, so what-

" Of course I will!" Natasha interrupted," you probably wouldn't survive without me," she added as an afterthought. Clint brought Natasha close and they kissed. Of course, they had kissed several times previously, but all those kisses were for covers, this was their first meaningful kiss together. they kissed for a good minute before Natasha broke the kiss.

" Should we tell the others?" she murmured.

"I dunno, maybe we should wait for the right moment, you know? Wouldn't want to take away Tony and Pepper's big night,"

" Yeah your probably right, unless Tony does something really b*chy." Natasha said, face threatening to morph into a mischievous grin. With that, they both cuddled on the bed and watched Pirates of the Caribbean. For the first time as a couple, they fell asleep in each other's arms.


	6. Chapter 6

**sorry it took me so long to update, but I haven't really had much inspiration or time in awhile. Hope you enjoy!**

While Clint and Natasha were happily watching Pirates of the Caribbean, Tony was extremely nervous. They had just finished dinner at the Gotham Bar and Grill and were on their way to the beach.

" So at work today, Aldrich Killien, you know, from high school, came by my office today and invited me to lunch tomorrow, but I declined, I mean, I'm in a relationship!" while Pepper gushed on, Tony's boyfriend alarm was blaring. _Pepper would never cheat on me, right? _Thought Tony, getting more nervous by the second. Finally, the limousine stopped, they were at the beach. They got out and started walking along the beach. The waves were crashing on the beach. Tony looked at Pepper and her face was illuminated by that sunsetty glow; with her long hair let loose from its bun, Pepper was gorgeous. They took off their shoes and started wading into the ocean._ Okay, it's now or never._ Thought Tony hands inadvertently slipping into his pocket where the ring was.

" Pepper Potts, you are the most amazing woman I know, and I have slept with many women" Tony started, kneeling on the sand. " But there is no one in the entire world that I would rather spend my time with. Will you marry me?" Tony proposed. For what seemed like eternity, but in reality was only _maybe_ 2 seconds, Pepper was silent, obviously shocked.

" I… I… yes! I will," stuttered Pepper, while Tony slid the ring on her finger. Tony and Pepper kissed, both extraordinary jubilant. This was undoubtedly the happiest moment of their lives.

" We're engaged!" cried Tony as soon as they entered the tower. Of course, the first 15 floors of the tower were for business, not the residential section, so Tony had just shouted to an empty room.

" We're engaged!" cried Tony as soon as they reached the recreation room of the tower. The only occupants were Thor and Jane and they were engrossed in Mamma Mia. Steve, Bruce, Clint and Natasha were nowhere to be seen.

" That's awesome!" exclaimed Jane, hugging Pepper.

"Man of Iron, that is wonderful news! It is more exciting than these midgardians getting married in this film!" Thor boomed.

* * *

Natasha got up the next morning feeling happy. It took her a few moments to obtain the source of this newfound happiness; she was in a relationship with Clint. She rolled out of Clint's bed and went back to her room to change so she could go to the gym. Her and Clint had practically been in a relationship for the majority of five years, but had never put a name on it other then "partner".

She was at the gym no longer than 10 minutes doing a firefight simulation. For those unfamiliar with firefight simulation: holographic images with guns attacking you, you must defend yourself while not getting injured. Natasha had just vaporized her last holographic assailant when Clint walked in.

" Hey," breathed Natasha. " I bet I could beat you in a sparring match.

" Your on," Clint accepted. Snipers are known for being patient, and that was exactly what Clint was. But he had known Natasha for seven years and only three times out of numerous sparring matches had he made the first move. So before Natasha could perfect her stance, Clint lunged, a punch aimed at her gut. Before the punch reached its mark however, Natasha flipped in the air and wrapped her thighs around his neck. This was such an impeccable and usually unsuspected move that had Natasha really been trying to kill him, he would already be dead, neck snapped. But as he was her boyfriend, she merely severely incapacitated him. To the average onlooker, what happened next happened was too fast to see: Natasha had somehow managed to end up with one of her arms holding his head in place, and the rest of her body had him in some sort of body lock. Clint had seen her perform this maneuver several times on her unfortunate victims, it just so happened to be that he knew a way to get out. Clint reached his free hand around to Natasha's side, and tickled. The black widow was not ticklish, but when she was Natasha Romanoff and not on duty, she was just as ticklish as the next person.

"D*mmit, Clint! Your not allowed to do that!" grumbled Natasha, letting him out. The tickling seemed to bring out the black widow, time to stop playing by the rules. She used his thigh as a step and launched herself into the air. Before she even hit the ground she had kicked him in the groin. Clint doubled over in pain and Natasha stood nearby, a smirk forming on her lips.

" That's playing dirty, you want to really fight?" Clint taunted, a smile plastered in his face. Natasha kicked him in the shin and got no reaction. In retaliation, Clint punched her in the side. She blocked his punch, but he kept on pressing on her blocking arm. Clint reached behind her and pulled those fiery red locks of hers. With her other arm, Natasha jabbed at his nerves in his neck, simultaneously kneeing him in the groin. Clint let go. Natasha directed a punch in his direction but he blocked it. Clint grabbed her arm and was in the middle of twisting it behind her as to get her in an arm lock, when JARVIS interrupted their fight.

"Agents Barton and Romanoff, Mr. Stark would like your presence in the living room."

" Okay, JARVIS tell tony that we'll be up there in ten minutes, after we shower." Natasha instructed.

" Of course agent Romanoff,"

So Clint and Natasha went to their respective rooms to take a shower. Natasha could take a full shower in 1 minutes and 49 seconds. This time though, she took an eight-minute shower. After quickly getting dressed, Natasha went downstairs to the living room. When she arrived, all the avengers, save Thor and Clint, were present. Finally, Clint and Thor arrived. No body noticed that Clint has sat down a little close to Natasha for them to be just partners.

" Okay guys, we have some very important new for you, we're engaged!" Pepper exclaimed."

"That's great!" congratulated Steve.

" Congrats you guys," said Natasha, getting up and hugging Pepper.

" I was so scared that she would say no," said Tony.

" Well, you are one lucky person," Clint said.

"We're thinking of having the wedding on July 21," said Pepper. " That's about a month and a half from now. Is that enough time to plan?"

" Anyways, we were hoping you guys could help us plan," asked Tony.

" Yeah of course" was the general reply.

" Great, but first, I think we should go celebrate at the beach," declared Tony.

When Natasha was young, the red room had taken her and trained her to be an assassin. The training was brutal and resulted in many nightmares for Natasha. That meant that certain phrases or things triggered a flash back. Water was one of them.

_"__Кто__ты__? __Почему__вы__нарушаете__в__?" ( who are you? Why did you break in?) Natalia's interrogator questioned. When Natalia gave no answer, the interrogator nodded at the muscle men. The board Natalia layed upon started tilting back. Before Natalia could prepare herself, a cloth was put over her mouth and water was poured in her open mouth. Natalia gagged and involuntarily tried to spit it out, only causing her to lose more air. The red room would not try to come rescue her, when ever one of their agents was captured they had to get themselves out. Helplessness started to engulf her as water started to get poured into her mouth again. The rope holding her wrist in place finally let go, to the oblivion of her captors. She started working on her other wrist. Ignoring the water, Natalia worked on her bindings. When the other wrist was freed, Natalia opened her eyed and punched her captors. By the time her ankles were free, Natalia had killed all of her captors with well aimed blows. Natalia was reaching toward the door handle, but before she opened it, the door was kicked open. More enemies were on their way. Propelled by gunpoint, Natalia was pushed into another room. Before she could react, a she felt a dart peirce her neck and she went limp. When she woke up, she was tied securely to a bed. Her vision finally cleared and she saw a man standing in front of her, grinning. You could tell from his stance and the way he carried himself that he was high up in his organization._

_«__так__, __ты__убил__всех__ваших__охранников__, __теперь__вы__столкнуться__с__гневом__своего__начальника__"( So, you killed all your gaurds, but now you face the wrath of their boss)__. __Snarled the man__. _

_After 3 hours of torture, the boss finally gave up. _

_"__в__порядке__. __будь__по__-__вашему__, __Бик__," (Fine, have it your way, b*ch!) the boss screamed.__ "__Есть__свой__весело__с__ней__потом__уб__ить__ее__,__" ( have your fun with her, then kill her,) he instructed. A feeling of pure dread washed over Natalia. 10 men remained. The one who seemed to have the most authority grinned. He looked Natalia up and down, still grinning, envisioning all the fun he would have. He took out a knife and ripped away the remains of her top. He grinned even wider. Slowly, he started unzipping his pants..._

"Hey, Tash, you okay?" Clint asked, a hint of worry in his voice. He had seen this look on her face before. She was having a flashback, but what was the trigger this time? Clint thought about everything he knew of Natasha before he had met her. She had been water boarded several times, the talk of beaches must have triggered it. By now all the avengers had stopped chatting and were wondering what she was doing.

"You know what? Nat and I are just gonna stay home, alright?" Clint covered up for her.» she said she wasn't feeling well earlier today." Clint added, due to the dubious looks from them. Who in their right mind wouldn't want to go to the beach?

"Okay, tell Natasha that we hope she feels better," Pepper said. With that, they all left, save Natasha and Clint.

"Hey Tash, it's alright, your here, with me, Clint" he comforted, hugging Natasha.

"I know, it's just, every time I think of water, i think of all the time ai was water boarded," Natasha said, stifling a sob.

"Hey, it's okay, your here with me now," Clint soothed. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"It was one of the last missions I did for the red room before i left," Natasha started. "I was caught and tortured for I don't know, maybe four hours, before I escaped."

By the time the rest of the tower residents got back, Natasha had properly recovered and was back in her normal state.

That night was movie night. To every one's stupefaction, Tony and Clint did not have their standard fight over which movie to watch. Apparently being in a relationship was good for Clint and being engaged was good for Tony. They watched the Princess Bride. Clint, however, chose to sit on the couch next to Natasha, instead of his customary place on the rug. They all waited for Natasha to push him away, but instead she made a little more room for him and accepted his arm around her shoulder. Although everyone noticed this occurrence, no one decided to point it out. Clint's arm was around Natasha and they were lying on the couch. Pepper and Tony were cuddling on the second couch with Bruce lounging on the other end, looking slightly uncomfortable with all this affection. Jane was spooning with Thor who had recently been introduced to the term "spooning". And Steve? Steve was just making himself comfortable on the rug.


	7. Chapter 7

**sorry it took me so long, i haven't had very much inspiration. so review are appresiated  
**

Natasha walked through the halls of the helicarrier. Fury wanted her to oversee a recruit interrogate a target. Despite two years of training and nearly four years being a handler, the recruit's handler caught the ongoing flu. Typical. The recruit's name was Marcus Greery; he was due to finish his training in about 2 months. Natasha walked through the hall as she read the target's file. His name was Benjamin Schatz. For some reason that name sounded familiar. He has lived in Germany for all his life… Age 37….No family, he was an orphan… He was caught ordering the assassination of the Spanish ambassador.

Natasha arrived at the interrogation room. Greery was already there, waiting for Schatz to be escorted to the room. A two-sided mirror served as one of the walls. Behind that mirror was the room that Natasha would observe the interrogation in. She could see and hear everything perfectly adequately. The moment Schatz was escorted into the room, Natasha knew why the name had seemed so familiar. She had done three hits for this man after she left the red room. The first time he employed her, she had assassinated a businessman named Philip Armodi. Apparently he had cheated Schatz of some 4,000 euros.

_Natalia's phone rang. _

" _Hello?" she answered in perfect German; the phone traced the caller back to Germany._

" _You are the Black widow, no? A man's voice questioned in German._

" _Yes I am," Natalia carefully replied. Everyone needed to be cautious in this business. Her phone was almost done pinpointing the exact location of the call. Just a precaution._

" _Good, I have an offer for you, 1,000 euros for a hit job. Meet me at the Brunswick Cathedral tomorrow at noon. I will send someone. He will be wearing a red scarf and a blue backpack. He will also say the phrase 'do you know where I might find the brochures for the tour?' That is how you will know it is him" With that, he hung up. _

_The next day Natalia dressed in a sweatshirt, jeans, and a hat that covered all her telltale vivid red hair; tourist clothes. She arrived at the cathedral an hour before the said time. Natalia scanned the area for potential buildings that someone could snipe from. She counted four. Two on the west side, one on the north side, and one on the south side. At noon, Natalia distinguished a man with a red scarf and blue backpack, the image of a tourist. Before approaching him however, Natalia simply observed him until she got every thing that might come in handy later. He had sandy blonde hair, was pretty tall, maybe 6' 7"? He had a thin, reedy body, but that didn't mean he couldn't fight, look at the infamous black widow for instance, she was 5'3". Finally, Natalia approached him. _

" _What do you need me to do?" asked Natalia, sure that this was him due to his tense posture and the fact that he kept looking over his shoulder as if he was expecting some one, or maybe to make sure no one was sneaking up in him. _

" _Do you know where I might find the brochures for the tours?" he asked._

"_So it is you," Natalia stated._

_The man reached into his backpack and produces a small bag. " The information you need is in the flash drive. The boss is giving you 500 upfront. You will get the other 500 when you complete the task." Informed the man. Through his German, Natalia could detect a slight accent. French maybe? Two days later, Natalia had killed a Spanish ambassador. He was 36 and had a wife and two beautiful kids, one boy and one girl. She arrived at the same cathedral and received the other 500 euros._

That mission was the one that got her at the top of S.H.I.E.L.D's hit list. The day that Clint Barton was sent to kill her. Oddly though, Clint and her would not have met it had not been for him. But he was still a criminal, her out of work relationship would not get in the way of her job; she was Natasha d*mn Romanoff.

The interrogation lasted four hours. During the first three hours, Schatz remained persistently quiet. Finally, Greery was instructed through his comm to " walk out of the room and receive further instructions.

" Okay, no matter how impatient you get, stay calm and patient. Try to make him angry. Angry men inadvertently say secrets." Natasha instructed.

" Romanoff, he talking yet?" Fury asked through her comm " No sir, he hasn't said a word,"

" I'm tired of waiting for answers, you go in there and him to start talking, understood?" Fury instructed.

" Sir, I know this man, and he knows me,"

" What the h*ll?" Fury exclaimed." When did you plan on telling me this?"

" After the interrogation," Natasha answered.

Fury's patience had worn thin. The council was waiting for the interrogation tape so they could come to a verdict." By now, I don't care that he knows you, go in there and get me some answers." Fury instructed.

" Yes sir," Greery left the room and Natasha walked in.

" What the h*ll are you doing here now?" asked Schatz. Natasha shrugged in response. " I thought you didn't work fro anyone! The one organization you have to work for and it's S.H.I.E.L.D! Why would they ever take you in?"

" If I recall, you are the one handcuffed to the table and you are the one who answers the questions, not me." Natasha's voice remained eerily calm, though her expression portrayed malice." I defected nine years ago," Natasha answered. This was not the first time she had lied in an interrogation. Natasha Romanoff was a d*mn good liar.

Schatz's brain slowly connected the dots. " The last hit you did for me was eight years ago, you were lying to me that whole time!"

Natasha nodded. " The whole d*mn time, and you bought it too!" she lied some more. After riling Schatz up more, it was only 45 more minutes before she acquired all the answers needed. Her work done on the helicarrier, Natasha took a quinjet back home.

When Natasha got home, she immediately crashed on her bed and fell asleep, only to be bombarded with more nightmares.

_She woke up tied to a chair. Not a flimsy, wooden chair, but a sturdy steel chair bolted to the ground. If given the choice, she could have easily slept have of the day. But, as fate would have it, it was not her choice. The explanation too her sudden awakening lie in the bucket of ice water her captors had deposited on her. Looking around, she saw that Clint was also bound to steel saw that he was also woken in a similar manner. A man spoke. Apparently he wanted to know how S.H.I.E.L.D. had found their whereabouts. Both agents remained noiseless. Then came the punishment for not talking. _

" _Since you aren't talking and seem to care for her, we'll start with her," one of the men snarled, distinguishing Natasha as the wink link. He grabbed her hair and punched her in the stomach. Natasha gasped for air. After numerous punches, they took to cutting her, and then water boarding her, and then cutting her some more. Finally, after 8 hours of this, Natasha couldn't take it any more; she gave Clint a pleading look. In reality, Clint would have told them what they needed to know; he would have betrayed S.H.I.E.L.D. Just so Natasha could have a relatively painless death. This time though, Clint remained silent. The men caught the look that Natasha gave him. They rightfully interpreted this look as a look of help._

" _See? Even you friend here won't help you. He doesn't care about you, he only cares about his job" one of the men mocked._

" _No, that's not true, Clint help me!" Natasha cried. Clint agave her a look of absolute, pure loathing._

" _Clint, help me! Please, help me!" Natasha could not believe that Clint did not, would not help her._

When Clint walked into Natasha's room to ask if she wanted to spar with him, he found her sleeping on her bed. She was obviously having a nightmare and muttering in her sleep.

"Clint, help me! Please, help me!" Natasha muttered. Clint got next to her and put an arm around her.

" Natasha, wake up!" Clint aroused her. Natasha woke up and laid her head on his chest.

" You left me," Natasha murmured.

" I will always come back for you, I promise," Natasha looked up at him and kissed him.

" I love you," Natasha whispered.

"I love you too,"

That night the Tony, Steve, Bruce, Clint, Natasha, and Pepper played truth or dare in the living room. Although Thor was present, he " preferred to not play such a lowly game"

" Who wants to go first?" asked Bruce.

"I will," Tony said, before anyone could respond. " Hmm… Steve! Truth or dare?"

" Dare," Steve said, regretting the decision immediately.

" Steve, I dare you to… go the rest of the year wearing clothes that we pick out." Tony cackled evilly. Everyone knew that Steve only wore clothes from the 70's.

" Okay… Clint, truth or dare?" asked Steve.

" Dare," Clint firmly replied.  
" Okaaay then, I dare you to prank call Fury. Clint shrugged, he had already prank called S.H.I.E.L.D's director numerous time. Clint got the phone and dialed Fury's number.

" Hello? Clint asked in a shrill, girl's voice.

" What do you want?" demanded Fury.

" What aisle are the pop tarts at Walmart?"

" Listen lady, I don't know what you are talking about. I have been to Walmart twice in my entire life, and I'm 47!" he exclaimed, getting impatient. At the Avenger's tower, all the residents exchanged looks. None of them, not even Clint or Natasha, knew how old Fury was.

" But the manager told me to call your number," Clint said." I REFUSE to hang up until you tell me where the pop tarts are!"

"Okay, okay the pop tarts are in aisle 7, now goodbye." For someone who could withstand hours of interrogation without divulging any information, Fury had given up surprisingly fast. Perhaps it was an arduous day at work. He hung up.

" Should I call him back?" asked Clint. Yes, was the general reply. Clint dialed Fury's number again.

" I am in aisle 7! And let me tell you that there are no pop tarts here," Clint screamed at Fury, still using the girl voice. All the avengers were in fits of laughter. No one in all of history had pranked Fury this bad before. " "No pop arts, and a lot of cereal! See? I can tell you the cereal that Walmart has!

" You really don't have t-" Fury started.

" There are puffins, peanut butter puffins, lucky charms, captain crunch, froot loops, honey bunches of oats, chocolate captain crunch, life," Clint looked at his fellow pranksters, he was running out of kinds of cereal. Tony quickly wrote down cereal to keep Clint going. " And frosted flakes, and cheerios, and raisin bra- " Clint stopped short to the sound of Fury hanging up on him, again.

" My- My turn Clint laughed." Pepper, truth or dare?"

"Mmmm… truth," Pepper decided.

" Okay, then, Pepper, who is the first person you ever slept with and when?" asked Clint.

"Hey! Hey you can't ask my fiancé such an intimate question!" Tony protested.

" Tony, telling us who the first person you ever slept with is not that much of a big deal." Bruce intervened.

" Yeah? Well then who was he first person you ever slept with?" Tony challenged.

Bruce turned bright red. " I didn't get the truth, so I don't have to answer your question,"

" Tony, it's fine." Pepper interrupted the debate. Everyone sat up, intent on hearing this. Who was the first person that Pepper Potts had f*cked?" it was Michael Reedling in freshman year of college. He was like, THE person to go at it with." Pepper fulfilled her truth. " Now, " Pepper smiled, already knowing who the next person would be an what she would do. " Bruce, truth or dare?"

Bruce wanted to save his pride and not wanting to embarrass himself " truth,"

" Judging by the color your face turned when Tony asked who the first person you ever slept with an when, here's my question," Pepper said, still smiling." Who was the first person you ever slept with and when?"

" Umm…." Bruce looked around, trying to avoid the question." It was Margaret Layton in my senior year." If it was even possible, Bruce turned even more red." I was really drunk, okay?" despite his reaction, Bruce didn't have _that _much to be embarrassed about, granted, out of all the Avengers, he was the last, not counting Steve, who was still a virgin.

" Okay, " Bruce breathed happy that his turn was over." Tony, truth or dare?"

"Dare,"

Bruce came up with the dare relatively fast." I dare you to go a month without drinking. Not a drop. And if you do, you have to sit through a documentary on what ever I chose without complaining."

" Sounds easy enough," Tony said nonchalantly. Then every single person in the room started noisily drinking their respective beverages. All alcoholic, save Steve, who decided to " just stick with lemonade". Tony paled, just realizing how long a month was.

" Well, there's only one person in the room who hasn't had a turn yet," Tony started, looking right at Natasha," Natasha, truth or dare?" Tony asked.

" Truth," Natasha replied no hesitation tainting her voice.

Tony thought; this was a rarity that Natasha would willingly give up secrets." Okay, who was the last person you dated and when did you break up?" Tony asked. Clint and Natasha had one of their split second silent conversations.

_Should we tell them? _

_Yeah, I guess it's now or never _replied Clint

_You sure?_ Clint gave the slightest of a nod in answer to Natasha's question.

" The… last person I dated was," Natasha hesitated." Was Clint," this brought an uproar.

" YOU AND LEGOLAS DATED?" Tony was the first to respond.

"I knew there was something there!" Pepper exclaimed.

" Spidey and Legolas dated! Spidey and Legolas dated!" Tony sang gleefully.

" Why ever did you break up?" asked Thor.

" Are you telling the truth? Most exes don't talk ever again and most certainly aren't partners," verified Steve.

" Yeah, how do we know your not lying?" asked Tony. " Clint, is it true that you and Natasha were together?"

Clint took a deep breath, " yes that is true," technically, it wasn't a lie.

" Well, you never told us why you broke up," Thor reminded.

" Yes, why did you guys break up? You two seem perfect together!" inquired Steve.

Half of them were looking at Natasha and the other half was looking at Clint.

"Hey, this was Natasha's dare!" Clint yelped. Dutifully NOT doing his job to help Natasha explain that they were still together.

" Well, the thing is… we're still together," this new piece of information brought another uproar.

After enduring an hour of questions and another hour of truth or dare, Natasha and Clint were finally rewarded with the tranquil silence of Natasha's bedroom.

" So, I guess we can finally stop pretending, huh?" whispered Clint.

" Yeah, guess so," no more words filled the air until the next morning, seeing as they both fell asleep.

**hope you liked it, i need some inspiration, so please, pleas review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**sorry it took me a while to update, It took me a while to find some inspiration, so please please review!**

" Anthony Edward Stark, when I find you, you are sooo dead" Natasha shrieked. "And I will find you." Not 2 minutes ago Natasha received a call from Tony. Everything was ordinary about that call, aside the particular detail that Natasha's ringtone now blared, " Spidey and Legolas are dating! Spidey and Legolas are dating!" repeatedly.

In his secret hidey hole that no one, not even Pepper, knew about, Tony's face turned milk white, about five shades paler than his regular complexion. He was sooo dead. Right before the wedding too! Though it was worth it. Natasha found Tony faster than he anticipated due to her enhanced phone that tracked the origin of the call.

" Found you," Natasha grinned.

" I – I don't know what your talking about," Tony stuttered with a fuming Natasha stood before him. Suddenly, Natasha grinned even wider. With that, she walked out, shutting the door behind her. Tony couldn't believe it. He had survived! But the way Natasha had smiled… she was planning revenge. Uh oh.

Tony's calendar on his phone marked the number of days until he could start drinking again. Only 1 more day to go! The previous weeks had been pure torture for Tony. The feeling of dread was Tony's constant companion as he walked into the kitchen to grab a snack before going back to the workshop. There, standing in his kitchen, drinking HIS $400 vodka was none other than Natasha Romanoff. When he looked in the trash, it became evident what Natasha's revenge was. She was drinking his numerous alcoholic beverages. Snack forgotten, Tony raced up to his floor. He was greeted by the sight of the empty bottles of his secret stash of emergency drinks spelling the word Revenge. Only one more day 'til he could start drinking again… and she had done this. It wasn't like Natasha could get drunk that easily, her enhancers prevented that. Oh, his life was in ruins.

In the kitchen, Natasha took out her phone and texted Clint.

Natasha: Wanna come help me drink Tony's stash?

Clint: certainly. REVENGE

Natasha: so he called u to?

Clint: yea

Natasha: we should make him sit through it

Clint: MUAHAHA

Clint was at S.H.I.E.L.D's HQ. This was the time of year he dreaded the most. It was his turn to train the new recruits. Self confident, ignorant, annoying B*st*rds. He was currently walking through the halls of S.H.I.E.L.D. when he arrived in the training room, the amiable chatter quieted to dead silence, this was the agent who had made the infamous Black Widow defect. The agent who had one of the highest success rates. The agent who had been under Loki's mind control before the battle of New York and survived. One half of Strike Team Delta, the most successful strike team in S.H.I.E.L.D history. Yes, Clint was somewhat of a legend at S.H.I.E.L.D.

" Alright recruits, today you are going to do a warm up, and then we'll begin." Clint absolutely hated training the newbies.

One recruit raised his hand." Sir, is it true that you slept with agent Romanoff?" this one as a bold one. Clint turned and glared at him.

" What is your name?"

" Tyler Maloney," Maloney said, "Sir." He added as an after thought.

" Recruit Maloney, why are you here?" asked Clint. He had only been in here for five minutes and they were already driving him crazy. Another two hours to go.

Maloney was silent for a while then said, " I'm here to train to become a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent sir."

" Then tell me what my romantic life has to do with your training?"

" Nothing sir, there are just some rumors going around," Maloney said. He just didn't know when to shut up.

" Well to put ease to these rumors going around about agent Romanoff and myself, I am not screwing agent Romanoff and never have." These morons were well past the middle school, so why were they still gossiping like them? Although Clint had told the truth about not f*cking Natasha, he still had those drunken moments when he wanted to.

" You're lucky it wasn't agent Romanoff who heard these rumors, she would find the people who started them and castrated them." Clint warned them. While the recruits were warming up with a five-mile run, Clint texted Natasha.

Clint: These cocky *ssholes are driving me crazy.

Natasha: HaHa I'm at the tower drinking. What rumors are going around about us now?

For several years, various rumors had come up about Clint and Natasha. Was the only reason Clint spared her was that they slept together? Were they married? Was he jealous that she seduced all these other men? Had she really slept with all the men in Russia and that was why she defected?

Clint: well… one of them just asked me if we were f*cking.

Natasha: not as bad as the time when one of them kept on trying- and failing to get me in bed with him.

" Okay people, we're going to play paintball." Clint said when they were done with their run. "You're going to divide into two teams. If you get hit in a vital organ, you're out. The last team standing wins."

" Well why do we have to be out when we get hit in a vital organ?" A recruit asked. He was clearly one of the okay, cocky, thick headed ones.

" Well," Clint started fake patiently while the majority of the class face palmed, "If I shot you in the kidney right now, would you be in any physical condition to continue to fight me?"

" No," with that misunderstanding cleared up, the recruits proceeded to split into two teams.

While Clint was busy terrorizing the recruits and Thor, Steve, and Bruce were helping plan the wedding, Natasha was enjoying a bottle of vodka.

" Stark, what is your *ss doing in my sight?" Natasha asked as Tony entered the room.

" You never did actually answer my question," Tony was forever curious.

" What question?"

" Oh don't play dumb, you know, your past," Tony saw through her ill covered lie. Natasha had survived 12 years in the red room, and up to 10 hours of torture and interrogation. But this was different; Tony was her friend, despite the love hate relationship they shared. He should know.

" Fine, I'll tell you some," Natasha resolved.

" YES I knew you would give in!" Tony sat down on a chair and stared intently at Natasha, rather resembling a 5 year old about to hear his favorite story.

" This is the short version," Natasha told him.

" Noooo! I want the long version," Tony pouted.

" Shut up or I won't tell you," Natasha threatened. Tony shut up. " When I was five, an organization called the red room burnt down my house, I was the only survivor. They took me and trained me to become who I am now. Whenever I went on a mission, they would brainwash me before so I did what ever they wanted. I would have no recollection of the mission, or anything for that matter." Natasha said, thinking about Loki's mind control over Clint. "They also injected me with enhancers, they make me just, better in general. Eventually, I escaped and started doing hits for anyone that would pay me. I got at the top of S.H.I.E.L.D's hit list. Clint was sent to kill, me, but he spared me instead."

" God Natasha makes my trip to Afghanistan seem like a picnic." Tony sympathized. He could only imagine the h*ll Natasha had gone through to get here.

" If you treat me like some fragile doll about to break, I will use this knife to gut you," Natasha despised sympathy. Just because she had practically gone through h*ll and back didn't mean she was any less bad*ss. Granted, half the time she had Clint to help her get through it.

" Earlier- you mentioned the girls you trained with," Tony asked," what happened to-"

" Question and answer time is over," Natasha's expression had turned to one of stone as she headed back to her room, thoughts of twelve dead 16 year old girls that she had killed to become the Black Widow. As she walked out, twelve shots were ringing in her ears. Natasha went down to the gym and shot the target dummies in the heart, just like her fellow red room recruits. By the time she finally went to bed it was 1 am. Natasha changed into her pajama's, which had similarly resembled her normal clothes and went to sleep, only to be plagued with nightmares.

_She was running through the streets of London. It was summer, tourist season. Natalia took a shortcut through the alley, hoping it would faze her pursuer. Despite having just run 2 miles in under 10 minutes, she was barely out of breath. She stopped short, the alley was a dead end._

" _You live up to your name, I'll give you that," a voice said from above. Natalia looked up, and there, standing on the fire escape, was her pursuer. _

"_чего__ты__хочешь__?" (What do you want?") Natalia spat. She was fluent in 15 different languages, but when she was upset or angry she always resorted back to her mother tongue, Russian._

" _Unfortunately, so do I," the man said, notching an arrow._

" _So America sent the infamous Hawkeye to kill me," Natalia growled. _

_Arrow aimed at her heart, Natalia flipped in the air and used the wall to launch herself at Hawkeye, knocking the bow from his grasp. Natalia drew a knife and threw it at his heart. He too, was agile, and was able to dodge in time. By now they were both on the ground, circling each other. Suddenly, she aimed a punch at him, but he blocked it. In retaliation, he kicked her in the stomach. Gritting her teeth, Natalia grabbed his foot and pulled him to the ground. He was up before she could kill him. As soon as they started really fighting, Hawkeye realized that her heart wasn't really in the fight; she didn't care what the outcome was. He had her in a headlock and she was struggling to get free. Her whole life, Natalia had fought to survive, but now? Now she didn't care to live any more. She gave up struggling against his arm. _

" _Do it," Natalia hissed. She looked up at him. Hawkeye looked in her eyes. There, even if she didn't realize it, was something. A pleading look, a look that told him that she was tired of working just for money and not for the 'good' side. Of course the other 95% of her expression was one of absolute hatred. He raised the gun to her head. She looked into his eyes as he pulled he trigger._

Natasha sat up in bed, eyes glassy. Clint wasn't supposed to have pulled the trigger. Still half way in a dream state, Natasha slid out of bed and walked towards Clint's room. When she got there, she slipped into his bed a fell into a dreamless sleep.

**do you like it? reviews are always appreciated!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks for all the reviews. Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy!**

"Romanoff, we need you at S.H.I.E.L.D. to interrogate someone.

" Yes sir, I'll be there in 20 minutes." Natasha was at the gym, so she still had to take a shower. After taking a two minute shower, Natasha was headed for S.H.I.E.L.D.

" Who is this guy?" asked Natasha.

" An undercover agent in Germany had told us that a man named Adrian Kruger is building a weapon of mass destruction. We managed to get one of his engineers, but he isn't telling us anything. We need you to interrogate him." Fury informed her as they walked down a S.H.I.E.L.D hallway.

" What's his name?"

" Fabian Hoffman,"

" Who're you?" Hoffman asked with a slight German accent. He had a defiant fire in his eyes.

" Natalie Riddle," Natasha answered. On the off chance that S.H.I.E.L.D. let this guy go, she didn't want her name known _everywhere._

Hoffman snorted," Oh great, they sent a woman to interrogate me,"

Natasha's eyes blazed with anger. Sexist Germans." Right now, I could kill you 9 different ways using only my body," Natasha threatened. Actually, she could kill him 15 different ways with just her body, but he didn't need to know that.

Natasha started with a seemingly simple question," Your name is Fabian Hoffman, correct?" Natasha asked.

" Yes," he answered, how much could he give away by telling her his name?

" How long have you been working for Kruger?"

After a half hour of silence from Hoffman, Natasha decided to back track to a more straightforward, unobtrusive question. " How's your wife and two year old son? I trust Kruger pays you well so you can support them,"

" How do you know about Mayra and Alecsander!" he exclaimed." F*ucking telepathic American psychopaths," he muttered.

Ignoring his comment, Natasha asked," How would you fell if Kruger were to activate a weapon of mass destruction, on, say, Munich?"

" He promised they would be safe!" Hoffman said, confirming that Kruger was, indeed building a weapon of mass destruction.

" What is this weapon?" Natasha asked, though Hoffman remained silent. " If you answer my questions, there is a _slim_ possibility that you don't go to jail." of course, as there was no crime, Hoffman couldn't legally go to jail, but he didn't seem to know that.

" A few years ago, we developed a serum that could cause the receiver susceptible to a lethal gas," Hoffman told her, "right now we're working on getting the chemical components for the gas."

" Why would Kruger want to develop a thing like that?"

Hoffman shrugged, " The world's technology is growing at rapid rate, we need to keep up."

" So all you have to do is inject the threat with this serum, and then you can kill them with an otherwise harmless gas?" Clarified Natasha.

" Even better, the hospitals are going to inject everyone with it, so we can use it all the time," Hoffman gloated at their own genius.

" Has Kruger released it yet?"

" No, they still need to touch it up it should be ready in about a month. There was a catch though, only one person could activate the gas, so naturally, Kruger made it himself."

Natasha had all she needed." Kruger built a serum that would make the receiver susceptible to an otherwise lethal gas," Natasha reported to Fury.

Fury nodded, " Did he say when he planned on activating it? Who is he going to inject?"

" They plan on injecting it to everyone apparently, through the hospitals in about a month."

" We may need you on a mission, so stay alert," Fury dismissed her.

Back at the tower, Clint was only just getting up, having slept in until 9:45. Meanwhile, Pepper was busy planning the wedding.

" Hey Nat, you done for the day?" Pepper asked.

Natasha shrugged, " Probably," you never had vacations in that business. Sure, you got days _off,_ but if there was a threat and only you could eliminate it, you couldn't just say " sorry, I'm on vacation in Hawaii, can't make it,"

"Jarvis, tell Tony to come up here right now. Right Now!" Pepper instructed.

" How's the planning going?" Natasha asked.

Pepper sighed," Stressful. For three days. Three days! I've been trying to get Tony to say if he wants his third cousin and my coworker to come.

" Hey Pep, what'd you want?" Tony had arrived, oblivious to Pepper's frustration.

" Do you want your third cousin, Gary something or other and Drake Mcdold from Stark Industries to come?"

" Okay… How about you decide and I g back to the workshop, I'm kinda in the middle of something right now." Tony said, starting his way back to the workshop. he was actually writing his vows, but he didn't really know what to write. Needless to sya, he had been procrastinating.

" Anthony, you are not going anywhere until you make a decision!" Pepper thundered. She was in the " use the full name" frustration stage.

" Okay, Okay, invite Gary but not Drake,"

" Good, it only took you 72 hours to say those 7 words." Pepper grumbled. " Okay Natasha, I could use your opinion on the color theme: red and robin's egg blue? Or yellow and pale red, pink? I think you bridesmaids might look better in the red and red and blue, but the flower girl and the best man would look better in the pink and yellow."

" Red and robin's egg blue," Natasha decided, after a moment of contemplation.

Now in her room, Natasha thought back to the previous night's dream, nightmare.

" _Do it," Natalia hissed. She looked up at him. Hawkeye looked in her eyes. There, even if she didn't realize it, was something. A pleading look, a look that told him that she was tired of working just for money and not for the 'good' side. Of course the other 95% of her expression was one of absolute hatred. Clint raised the gun to her head. After a moment of him in that position, he lowered it.  
_

_"Come to S.H.I.E.L.D, you have undeniable talent, you'd have an out, from this," he gestured, meaning the ruthless lifestyle she led. " At S.H.I.E.L.D. you get the reason why you have to kill the target,"_

_"Then why were you sent to kill me?" Hissed Natalia._

_" Well, you have committed a dozen assassinations in the past 2 months and over 75 in the past year, you're becoming a problem." _

_" And why the h*ll should I trust you?"_

_" You shouldn't, but right now I'm giving you a choice, join S.H.I.E.L.D. or I'll kill you, right here, in this alley."_

_Natalia thought about it, her whole life it was either kill or be killed. For once in her 18 years of living, she wanted to do good. She wanted to go straight, to have a fresh beginning. " If I go with you, what would happen?"_

_" Well as soon as we got to base, there would be a ton of guns pointed at you. Then my boos would yell at me until his face got red. You would probably be placed in a cell and interrogated. If the council approves, you would then become a recruit at S.H.I.E.L.D. and then progress to an agent." He said._

_Her shoulders slumped," Fine I'll go with you,"_

Weirdly enough, Clint was the first person she had ever trusted. For practically the first 18 years of her life, she had been taught to trust nobody. Every night, until she had learned her lesson, five nights, the red room dragged her awake , placed her in a chair, and beat her until they felt that she had had enough, generally an hour. She was 7 at the time. as a result, She didn't trust anyone for the next 13 and a half years, she didn't trust anyone. Now she trusted 8 people; Clint, Coulson, Fury, Steve, Bruce, Thor, Pepper, and despite their love hate relationship, Tony.

** Tell me what you think and if you have any plot suggestions. Reviews and constructive criticism is welcome.  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**thanks to hopelessromantic 1599 and blonde4ever for reviewing. our wifi went all weird so i couldn't update this as soon as I wished :(**

" Clint, Fury wants us at the helicarrier by 8:00," get up.

"Tash, it's too early," Clint groaned.

" Get up, it's 7:30 and it takes ten minutes to get to the helicarrier, so get your *ss out of bed," Natasha started pelting him with pillows.

* * *

" Your target is Adrian Kruger. You are to eliminate him. Intelligence tells us that he 's building weapons of mass destruction. For what purpose, we don't know. He has a sh*tload of security, so be careful," Fury told them. After finally getting his *ss out of bed, Clint and Natasha were at the helicarrier. "You leave tonight at 1600."

" Yes sir," they simultaneously said.

" So how long do you think this one will take?" Natasha asked. They were back at the tower, packing.

" I dunno, maybe two, three weeks?"

" Pepper would kill us if we're not there for the wedding," Natasha said," it's in two and a half weeks."

30 minutes later, they were in Natasha's corvette on their way to the S.H.I.E.L.D airport. They were both in there traveling outfits; Natasha wearing a red blouse, jeans, and her black leather jacket and Clint wearing his jeans, shirt, and jacket. Considering it was night and tomorrow they would have to be 100% alert, they both slept, her head on his shoulder and his head positioned on her head. Luckily, it was only them and Coulson in the jet, excluding the pilot. Coulson was asleep so they didn't have to hide their affection. Though it wasn't much.

" Rise and shine sleepy heads," Natasha said to both Clint and Coulson, both of whom were both still sleeping.

" It's too early," Clint was only awake for one more coherent thought," I need some coffee..."

Coulson, now awake, glanced at Natasha. They had both flied numerous times with Clint. Every time he woke up, he needed coffee. He had a strange addiction to the substance. Should they let him have some of it now? There were still 30 minutes to go and they didn't bring as much as they usually did…

" Come on, we have coffee," Natasha rose Clint by shoving him out of his chair. 30 strenuous minutes later of a certain occupant (Clint) grumbling of not having a sufficient amount of coffee, they landed.

In Germany, it was 7:00 am, an ungodly hour of the day. Clint and Natasha had nothing else to do, so they went to a diner and got some coffee (Clint's) and falafels. Stomach full of coffee and falafels, they went ot thir hotel and checked in.

" Name," the reception lady asked Clint. They had decided to go in 9 minutes apart, as their covers were not acquainted.

" David Hallerd,"

" Where are you coming from?" the lady was curious.

Clint sighed, as if he was tired from traveling, " New york,"

" I've always wanted to visit New york." she said a bit wistfully, "Your room number is 206."

9 minutes and 47 seconds later, Natasha walked in, suitcase in hand.

"Einem Raum bitte," (one room please) Natasha requested.

"Einen Moment," ( one moment) the reception lady responded. "Was ist Ihr Name?" (what is you name?)

" Margo Hertz,"

"Ihre Zimmernummer ist 204" (you room number is 204)

" Danke," (thank you) Natasha thanked. When she got to her room, Natasha noticed that the door adjoining her to room 206 was already unlocked.

"Really, Clint?" Natasha called

" They should really have better locks, I cracked this one in... 48 seconds," They got adjoining rooms? What a coincidence.

Strangely, Natasha's nightmares weren't as bad when she was on an mission. Regardless, she still had nightmares, though the fact that Clint was in the next bedroom over did help.

Over the next four days, Clint and Natasha simply observed their target. By the fifth day, they recognized two patterns in Kruger's otherwise erratic lifestyle. One was that Kruger went to the bar by his mansion every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Number two was that every night at 7:30 pm, he went for a walk around his courtyard. By the ninth day, Clint and Natasha had devised a plan.

It was Tuesday, Natasha walked onto the pub that Kruger went to. As seducing Kruger was a crucial part of the plan, Natasha wore a blood red dress that complimented her hair, and black stilettos. Kruger was already there, flirting with some other sl*t. Natasha walked over to the bar.

" One scotch," Natasha ordered. Kruger had been eyeing her the moment she had walked into the bar, now, now he was walking towards her.

" Whatever she got, put it on my tab," Kruger said. He was a well looking man, he was tall and had black hair, his face seemed to portray an air of confidence.

" Oh thank you," Natasha said. Before he could talk to her any more, she walked away.

" What the h*ll was that? why'd you walk away? He was obviously into you," Clint exclaimed through their comms. He had watched her seduce men for nearly 8 years, one would think he would have caught on to her tactics by now.

" If you act like your not interested, it'll make him want you even more, In the long run, it'll make things faster," Natasha explained. She had been taught the art of seducing by the age of 14.

When she returned to the bar not five minutes later, Kruger was still watching her.

" What is your name Madame?" He asked, leaning against the bar.

" I'm Margo, you are?"

"My name is Adrian Kruger, perhaps you've heard of me,"

"Indeed I have, Mr. Kruger," Adrian Kruger was a wealthy, we'll know business man, aside from constructing weapons of course.

" Call me Adrian. So, what do you do for a living? Surely such a pretty girl has a job,"

"Of course, I'm a waitress at a bakery here in Munich."

Kruger leaned over and whispered," If it's too crowded in here, my house is not far,"

"It is a bit noisy in here," Natasha accepted his invitation.

Knowing Clint would follow them via the rooftops, Natasha got in Kruger's limo.

" Not fair, you get to ride in a limo, while I have to run to follow you," Clint complained.

In response, Natasha smirked my ever so slightly, looking out the window. When she turned back toward Kruger, he immediately started kissing her. Hiding her disgust, Natasha passionately kissed him back. Not long after, they had arrived at Kruger's mansion.

" There is no one I'd rather be with right now, than you," they were in Kruger's room.

" There's no one _ I _would rather be with," Natasha whispered.

" But I bet our reasons are different,"Kruger said as he sat up, brandishing a gun " So, why are you and your partner following me?"

**so, Kruger knows that Clint and Natasha have been following him! Sorry not sorry for the cliff hanger. Reviews are always appreciated!**


	11. Chapter 11

**So here's another chapter to put you at ease. Please review and tell me what you think!**

Kruger's first mistake that day was leaving his donut out on the counter; his assistant had wandered by and had consumed it without second thought. It was his favorite too- jelly filled glaze. His second mistake that day was pointing a gun at Natasha Romanoff while she was in close proximity.

Getting no answer, Kruger said, " I repeat, why have you and your partner been follow-" while he was still talking, Natasha had moved up next to him and had indulged herself by removing him from his weapon whilst kicking him in the stomach.

" How the h*ll did you know we were following you?" Kruger was not inclined to respond, a result of his recently emptied lungs. Still getting no response, Natasha hoisted him off the ground and pressed a knife to his neck.

" Mole… in S.H.I.E.L.D….told us," he gasped. The thought of a premature demise does, occasionally, loosen tongues.

" There's a mole in S.H.I.E.L.D?" Natasha asked. Kruger nodded. Before she could question him further however, he reach down to his wrist and pressed a button on his watch. Suddenly, an explosion shook the floor. Natasha could feel the foundations shaking. Looking through the window, Natasha saw that the building adjacent to them had exploded. All that remained was a mountain of rubble. That was the building Clint was on.

" Clint!" Natasha screamed as she ran to the window, leaving Kruger.

Through her comm she heard nothing but static. She watched helplessly as the remainder of the building crumbled. There was no way he could have survived that. Natasha turned back to Kruger, who now possessed his gun. It was aimed at her. He was more than her mission now. He was Clint's revenge. Natasha dove as he pulled the trigger, pulling out another knife. Needless to say, he missed. Before he could shoot she had thrown it at his shoulder with deadly accuracy. She had purposely not killed him as to cause him as much pain as she felt. Though he would never, in the short remainder of his life, ever feel the pain Natasha felt. Nothing was stronger than love, but nothing could hurt as much as love. She had fallen in love with Clint Barton. She had been compromised. Kruger had brought out the true Black Widow.

" Who is the mole?" she growled.

Kruger coughed, " Her name is…"

" Who is it?" Natasha took one of her guns and shot him in the leg.

Screaming, Kruger said the name, " Hilary Tamass," as a reward for his cooperation, Natasha shot him in the heart, but not before stabbing him in the stomach. Wiping the blood off her hands and retrieving her knives, Natasha stalked out of the room.

" Romanoff, check in, the comms went off, but we just got them back up again," Coulson said, unaware of the recent events.

" Kruger is dead. There is a mole in S.H.I.E.L.D, her name is Hilary Tamass. The building Clint was on exploded, his comm is off." Natasha was on autopilot.

" I'm sending a search team right now, we'll meet at the rendezvous point." Coulson said. Natasha however, had different plans.

Coughing, Natasha progressed through the rubble.

" Romanoff! Where are you?" Coulson said, after Natasha had been searching for 10 minutes.

" Finding Barton. And when I do I'm going to kick his *ss for doing this to me," Natasha muttered.

Coulson, realizing that Natasha would not leave Germany without Clint, decided to change the rendezvous point wherever she was." We're on our way,"

Natasha searched for another 10 minutes before Coulson arrived.

" Natasha, you need to get back to base," He said, though it was soon apparent that Natasha was not listening to him anymore.

" Coulson, I am looking for my boy- partner," Natasha stopped herself from saying boyfriend, though he didn't seem to notice, " and I have absolutely no intention of leaving Germany until he is found. I don't give d*mn what the council is going to say, I am NOT going anywhere until I have found my dumb*ss partner, who decided to do THIS to me." Natasha was on a rampage.

Coulson was only half listening to what Natasha was saying as he was simultaneously listening to Fury through his comm. The ability to listen to 2 people at once was a necessity he had developed after 7 years of being Clint _and_ Natasha's handler "Natasha, go back to base, that's a direct order from Fury." Coulson said," Don't worry, we will find him,"

But Natasha did worry. The whole flight back she didn't sleep a bit, despite the fact that she was sleep deprived._ D*mmit Clint don't do this to me, you're not allowed to. I will find you and kick your *_ss for doing this to me. You are NOT allowed to f*cking disappear on me like this.

" How was the mission?" Steve asked as Natasha walked into he tower. Natasha glared at him in response.

" My f*cking boyfriend was on a building that exploded and they haven't found him yet. No, Steve, the god*mned mission did not go well," Natasha snapped. She knew it wasn't Steve's fault for the explosion, but she was so angry and hurt and worried that she didn't even know the difference anymore. She needed to yell.

" I'm sure they'll find him," Steve comforted. all the swearing seemed to make him uncomfortable. Natasha walked to her room, eyes not looking anywhere. It had been 12 hours… 12 hours... And they had not found him.

That night, Clint's absence was everywhere. No one to spar with… no one to prank Tony with… and most importantly, no one to help with her nightmares.

_She was on a mission for the red room. This one led her to America. Her target was Zackary Mcgroom, he was the heir to a major trading business with Russia. But rumor had it he had different plans; he was going to expose Russia's illegal importing and exporting business. Currently, he worked at a bank in New York. He was 21 years old, and recently single. She could feel the plane touch down with a bump. The moment she stepped out of the airport, her senses were assaulted. That fried food smell, gas, cigarette smoke, sirens wailing, car horns blowing, people yelling, the general buzz of life; a metropolitan city._

" _Taxi!" she called._

" _Where would you like to go?" The taxi driver asked._

" _The Ritz Carlton on 2 West Street," she rarely stayed at a hotel less than 4 stars. The driver nodded in response. A bonus was that Mcgroom had been kicked out of his apartment by his recently exed-girlfriend, so he was staying in the room across the hall that she was in. Being the heir to a successful business had its perks._

_After a luxurious night at the Ritz, she was now at breakfast. Mcgroom was sitting at 2 tables down. She could smell his cologne from here. She could also smell his shampoo and hear him chew his pancakes. Courtesy of her enhancers. She waited until he went back up to his room. Slipping unnoticed into an employees only room, she made her way to the maids' room. She found a maid outfit and proceeded to dawn it. The soft material brushed against her skin. Next, she grabbed a cart and made for the elevator. Once she reached Mcgroom's floor, she got off. The elevator abruptly stopped, causing it to jerk._

" _Room service," she called._

" _Come in, I'm just about to leave," his muffled voice carried through the doorway. She took keys and unlocked his door. With his back turned, she took out her gun. The metal was cool in her hand. Routinely, she clicked the safety off. The click caused him to turn around. She hesitated. In that hesitation, Mcgroom had bounded up next to her and kicked the gun from her grasp. D*mn Intel, they failed to mention that minor detail of him being a skilled fighter. Her trainers; voices rung in her ears "Never underestimate your opponent". As it turned out, they purposely didn't tell her about his fighting skills._

_He aimed a punch at her head, but she ducked. She could hear his fist whistle past her ear. She kicked his knee, causing him to stumble. In retaliation, he punched her in the stomach. She could feel his fist collide with her stomach. There was going to be a bruise there. Now up on his feet, he pulled her arm backward, nearly breaking it. She could feel her arm snap as he continued to push it. If he thought that could deter her, he thought wrong. She fell to the ground, kicking his feet from under him. She took out a knife and carelessly threw it at him; it embedded itself in his heart. Tearing off the maid's outfit, she walked out of the room, cradling her broken arm. She knew she could not favor her good arm in any way when she arrived back at the red room._

_ **hope you enjoyed it :)****Please please review as it helps me update more often.**_


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